Mitos Kecantikan dalam Tayangan Pemilihan Putri Indonesia 2009

Abstract

Television is a powerful media for spreading various messages that contain ideology and myth. Miss Indonesia pageant is one television program which conveys the concept of ideal beauty to the public. Beauty in that program obtains huge appreciation, acknowledgement, and support which makes beauty concept that being showed in that contest as one desirable beauty concept. The spread of images of ideal beauty through media become tool for perpetuating beauty myth.
The purpose of this research is to find out if this program perpetuates the myth of beauty. The theories being used in this research are: beauty myth theory by Naomi Wolf, muted group theory by Edwin Ardener and Shirley Ardener, self-alienation theory by Satre, and lastly, the liberal feminist tradition. This research uses the qualitative approach with Roland Barthes’ semiotic analysis to investigate and review the signs in Miss Indonesia pageant program. Analysis unit in this research includes visual texts, narration, pitures, and story context.
The result of this research shows that Miss Indonesia Pageant does perpetuate beauty myth because the concept of beauty that being showed is the same as market beauty concept which emphasize on physical quality. That kind of beauty concept mutes women by disregarding finalist idea because beauty myth makes women be judged by their beauty. Women’s idea is being underestimated and considered unimportant. Other form of muted is by not showing other beauty concept. Beauty aspect also makes women become fully conscious with their appearance which result in self alienation. Recommendation from the result of this research is beauty, as one of the pageant’s valuation parameters, be being defined not as singular concept but as plural.
Keywords: Myth. Beauty. Pageant. Woman.